Matthew Modine slams Amazon for changing ‘iconic’ ‘Full Metal Jacket’ poster
What’s that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?
Matthew Modine, who starred in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick war comedy “Full Metal Jacket,” is outraged that Amazon changed the artwork on the platform’s landing page for renting the film.
Modine took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the streamer for tweaking the poster of the Oscar-nominated film.
“Who decided to remove ‘BORN TO KILL?’ ‘’ Modine, 65, blasted Amazon in his tweet, adding, “Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there.”
On the movie’s original poster, there’s a helmet with “Born to kill” written on it. Prime Video stripped the phrase off, and showed the helmet sans the words on their version of the poster for the movie. It was the last Kubrick film released during his lifetime, as he died in 1999 from a heart attack at age 70.
Modine included a photo of the helmet in his tweet.
“[My character] Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace button as a statement about ‘the duality of man,’ ” Modine, who is also known for “Stranger Things,” continued.
The movie — which also co-starred Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey — follows a platoon of US Marines in the Vietnam War era, as they go through boot camp and struggle under their drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Ermey). They’re also shown having experiences during the Tet Offensive of the war.
It’s considered one of the most iconic war movies ever made. Modine wrote in his 2005 memoir that when his wife, Caridad Rivera, needed an emergency cesarean section during filming, Kubrick told Modine he couldn’t leave the set (“She’s having the baby. Not you. You’ll be in the way.”). Modine threatened to cut himself to get taken to the hospital, so Kubrick relented but ordered him to return after the birth of his child.
According to Modine’s account, when he returned with cigars, telling everyone his new son’s name is Boman, Kubrick snapped, “Why don’t you give him a normal name?”
In a key scene, a commanding officer asks Private Joker why he has the words on his helmet, asking, “What’s that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?”
Joker tells him that it means, “The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir,” referring to the psychiatrist Carl Jung.
It wasn’t clear why Amazon edited the poster.
Fans took to social media to agree with Modine and berate Amazon, describing the poster as “iconic” and that scene as “one of the best parts of the entire film.”
“Why on earth would they do this?” another fan commented. “Terrible.”
“Here we go again. Hey corporations, stop censoring art,” another fan wrote.
Another fan complained, “’It is NOT OK to censor history or art.”
The poster on Amazon has since resumed its original look.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. had asked that the “detail page” for “Full Metal Jacket” be updated to reflect the original art.
The Post reached out to Prime Video for comment.
